don't be stupid
by x-rushie
Summary: Joey Wheeler has never been a great student. But now, when he's in danger of failing everything, he needs a tutor. What he didn't expect was for her to be normal. A Joey Wheeler/original character fiction.
1. step one: admittance

okay, so i'm going to be honest; it's been a while since i've done any kind of fan fiction, let alone a yu-gi-oh one, so you're going to have to bear with me. that being said, i would appreciate and any all feedback you have for me, so please please please review. ( : there also might be a few typos, so i apologize for those in advance. after hours of staring at the computer screen, sometimes i just kind of miss them.

disclaimer: i own neither yu-gi-oh nor any of the characters.

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**CHAPTER ONE: STEP ONE: ADMITTANCE**

"Aw, man. Again?"

Joseph Wheeler looked down at the test sitting in the center of his desk, his grade—a big, fat F—circled obnoxiously in red marker several times, as if to expound on his failure. He didn't understand it; he had studied so hard for the test the night before, and he had been sure that he had known everything, but here he was, failing again. It just didn't make any sense. He propped his chin on his hand, miserably staring down at the test, ignoring the cheerful chatter of Yugi and Tea behind him; clearly they hadn't failed. Even Tristan had somehow managed to scrape an acceptable grade.

"I'm a failure," Joey muttered to himself dejectedly, flipping his test over so the glaring F wouldn't keep mocking him. He slouched back in his chair, sinking down so that his neck rested on the back instead of the small of his back, like usual. The teacher pretended not to notice him, something that was becoming more and more frequent with each of his repeated failures in the class. Finally, however, someone acknowledged his mood.

"Something wrong, Joey?" Yugi asked, pausing his conversation with Tea to look over at his best friend.

Joey waved a hand, tempted to play the part of the macho man and shrug it off. "Ah, it's nothin'," he said airily.

Yugi wasn't fooled. "Joey, we've offered to help you before," he said delicately, keeping Joey's explosive temper in mind.

"Yeah, and you did!" Joey cried, sitting up straight and staring beseechingly at his friend. "You all studied with me the week coming up to this test, and I _still_ failed! I don't get it!" He brought his fist down on top of his desk, causing his paper to flutter to the edge. "Maybe I'm just stupid."

"You're not stupid, Joey!" Tea said, sounding horrified. Secretly, Joey hoped she didn't continue; he really wasn't in the mood for one of her inspirational speeches right now. Thankfully, Yugi, sensing the danger, stepped in.

"Maybe you could get a tutor, Joey," he offered helpfully.

"But I had you guys help me, and that didn't work! What good will a tutor do?"

"Hey, that tutor that I got for History really helped me," Tristan offered.

Joey grunted, unconvinced. "I dunno, Yug…" He fidgeted uncomfortably; the thought of admitting that he needed a tutor was almost too much for his pride to bear.

"Look, Joey, we can try and help you study, but there are just certain things we aren't good at. The tutors here are good at that sort of thing; that's why they're in the tutoring program," Yugi said gently, trying to coax Joey into it.

Miserably, Joey stared down at the back of his test. There were red markings on almost all of the questions. As much as he joked about it, he really didn't like failing, which prompted his dangerously upset moods, like the one he was suffering from now. But going to get a tutor would be like admitting defeat; he hadn't wanted to let the grades beat him. He had been able to do so much on his own, and he didn't like the idea of having to rely on people. He'd had to rely on Yugi a lot in the beginning when he'd started playing Duel Monsters, and now he could do it all on his own. He had hoped studying would be the same.

He flipped the paper over, looking again at his grade—which was still a big, fat F—and sighed, knowing he was letting them talk him into something he really didn't feel like doing. Tea was already going off about how getting a tutor might be good for him, and Tristan—when he could get a word in edgewise—was also supporting the idea, repeating in several different ways that getting a tutor had helped him. Still, just because it had helped Tristan didn't mean it would help him. Joey was uncomfortable with having to go to someone he didn't know for help. But Yugi was right—there were just some things they couldn't help him with.

He glanced up at the clock. School was almost over, and the teacher was showing no inclination of teaching anything else today. Joey wondered why she did that—why she purposely gave tests back at the end of the week. He sometimes had the suspicion that it was because she wanted him to have a lousy weekend. While he knew that that was stupid, it was the only thing he could come up with. She'd had it in for him from day one, and Joey knew that it probably had something to do with his affinity for making paper airplanes out of the homework and sailing them around the room. But really, how could she expect him to pay attention that long?

"We'll go with you, Joey," Yugi offered helpfully, and that sealed the deal. Joey's shoulders slumped, a clear sign of defeat, and he sighed, a little irritably. "All right, all right! I'll do it! I'll go get a tutor."

It seems like, once you're dreading something, it comes up that much faster. It seemed that way to Joey, anyway, because time seemed to be moving much quicker now that he had resigned himself to do something he didn't want to do. The clock seemed to be moving at warp speed, and even the chattering in the background seemed to have picked up. Joey chewed on his thumbnail nervously, wanting the school day to go slower for once. He really didn't want to have to walk down to the tutoring rooms. It would be like going to his hanging.

All too soon, the bell was ringing to signify the end of the school day—and the week—and it was like a stampede to get out of the classroom. Joey, for once, moved much slower than usual, taking his time in putting his horrible test into his bag and standing up from his desk with agonizingly slow movements. He could almost hear Tristan's eyes rolling in their sockets as he over dramatized. Finally, when he knew he could stall no longer, he looked over at Yugi, who was looking up at him encouragingly, and sighed in defeat.

He gestured in front of him. "Lead the way, Yug," he muttered.

"Hey, man, look on the bright side," Tristan said as they trooped into the hall. He clapped Joey on the shoulder and winked. "You could get a hot tutor."

Joey smirked, lewd images of sexy librarians dancing through his mind. The thought kept him going until he got to the door of the classroom where the after-school tutors sat, each at their own table. All lewd thoughts, however, were banished from his mind the second he looked into the room. It seemed all of the tutors here were _guys_. He mentally cursed Tristan for getting his hopes up. Especially since it seemed the only open table—aside from the one that was totally empty—was occupied by Ryou Bakura.

Joey had nothing against Bakura, really, but every time he saw him he couldn't get the image of that freaky spirit from the Millennium Ring out of his head. The last thing Joey wanted—or needed—was another trip to the Shadow Realm. He would much prefer to fail all of his classes than end up in that weirdo place again. He almost turned around and walked out when Bakura spotted them and got up and walked over.

"Hello, you guys," he said pleasantly, smiling softly; Joey sincerely hoped that the _real_ Bakura was in control and this wasn't creepy Bakura playing a game with them. "What brings you here?"

"Eh…" Joey scratched the back of his head, trying to make it apparent without having to actually admit it out loud. Somehow, he felt like admitting it out loud would be a sentence of death, even though the only other people in the room were the other tutors and their tutorees.

"Joey was hoping to get a tutor," Yugi piped up, jumping in when it was clear Joey wasn't going to say anything.

"Oh!" Bakura's face was mildly surprised, but he quickly masked the emotion and merely smiled again at Joey. "What do you need help in?"

"Everything," Joey muttered almost inaudibly. Thankfully, Ryou didn't seem to need him to repeat himself.

"I see. Well, I don't know if we have anyone who has quite that much time to spare…" He cast a glance back over his shoulder, where a guy in their year was sitting himself down at Bakura's table. He waved to indicate that he would be right over before turning back to Joey.

"Well, that's too bad. Guess I'm out of luck," Joey said quickly, making to turn around and head out the door.

Unfortunately, Lady Luck wasn't on his side today, because at that moment, another person—this time a girl—wearing their uniform walked into the room and sat herself down at the empty table. Bakura's eyes alighted on her, and he smiled.

"Ah! Never mind! Let me just talk to Hikari for a moment. I don't think she has anyone for today, so she could at least look things over with you today before we can get you situated with a proper tutor."

"Great…" Joey muttered to himself as Bakura meandered over to talk to the girl. Annoyed, he looked over at his three friends, who were grinning sheepishly at him. "Thought I was gonna get out of it for a minute, there."

"Well, that wouldn't have done you any good!" Tea admonished, and Joey snorted. "Really, Joey, at least give it a try."

Joey was silently hoping that the girl would have better things to do than sit with him this afternoon—especially on a _Friday_—but it seemed that that was asking too much. Bakura was headed back over, still talking to the girl, who had gotten up from the table and was walking beside him, listening to what he was saying and nodding occasionally.

"You're in luck—Hikari's tutoree just cancelled on her earlier this week, so she's free to take you on, Joey," Bakura told him, clearly delighted; Joey could not share in his enthusiasm.

But what could he do now? He couldn't just say no and walk out, especially not with Yugi and Tea giving him The Look. Tristan, meanwhile, was sizing the girl—Hikari—up, and Joey turned his attention back to Bakura and his new tutor, who was looking at him now, doing her best to look friendly. Joey knew he looked anything but friendly, so he attempted to arrange his expression into something at least a little polite.

"I hear you need some help," she said politely, and Joey grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, a little…" He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed, even though no one was listening to the conversation but the people standing around him.

"Okay. Is there anything you want me to help you with real quick today?"

Joey stared at her, at her open expression, and he took her in for the first time, trying to see her as a normal human being rather than a robotic tutor. She was kind of pretty, he thought in an absent, offhand kind of way. Her hair was a deep blue-black sort of color, a little longer than Tea's, he guessed. It was hard to tell: it was pulled back in a messy bun. Her eyes were a light green color, almost hidden behind the thick frames of her black rectangular glasses. If he hadn't walked into this room, he probably honestly wouldn't have ever looked twice at her.

Seeing Joey was still not going to be very helpful, Yugi stepped in again. "We got a test back today," he said lightly, and Joey shot him a glare.

"That's right," Tea piped up, nodding encouragingly. "A math test."

"Great!" Hikari said, clearly pleased by this information. She turned to look at Joey. "I could look it over with you, and then you'll be free to go, since I'm sure you have better things to do with your Friday than sit around school all afternoon. I know I do, anyway," she added with a laugh.

Joey blinked, startled by this information. He hadn't expected a tutor to have a life. He had thought that she would just go home and study or something. The fact that she had better things to do on her Friday nights than study shocked him. In his moment of shock-induced silence, Tristan pushed himself in front of Joey.

"I'm Tristan," he announced, while Hikari stared up at him, obviously a little confused and startled.

"Okay," she said slowly. When he didn't say anything else, she asked carefully, "Do you need tutoring, too?"

"Huh? Who, me? Oh, heck no," Tristan said, waving a hand and snorting. "I just wanted to, you know, introduce myself. And let you know Joey can be kind of a handful." He added the last sentence in a loud, conspiratorial whisper.

"I'm right here," Joey commented blandly, his eyes narrowing.

"We'll wait for you at the game shop, Joey!" Yugi said quickly. "Come on, Tristan. We won't start the movie without you, Joey," he added as the three of them left.

"See ya…" Joey muttered, watching them go. He shifted his bag uncomfortably on his shoulder when he turned back to Hikari; Bakura had gone back to his own table.

Hikari offered him a knowing smile at his awkwardness. "We can sit over here," she said, nodding her head in the direction of the empty table. "I won't keep you long, I promise," she added over her shoulder as she led the way over. She slid into a chair, and Joey slid in beside her, dropping his bag on the floor. "So let's see that test."

Joey made a face. "Eh, can we not?"

Hikari raised her eyebrows patiently. "Okay, I get it. You're afraid to admit that you need a tutor. But the first step, Joey, is admitting that you have a problem."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought that was when you were a drunk or somethin'."

"Yeah, well, in this case your problem is bad grades instead of alcoholism. So, come on, say it: My name is Joey Wheeler and I need to be tutored." When Joey remained silent, she prompted, "Go on. Say it."

He sighed. "My name is Joey Wheeler and I need to be tutored," he deadpanned, even though he found it a little amusing; at least she wasn't a total drag.

"Good. Now let's see that test."

Grimacing, Joey took a long time opening his bag to get the test out again. Hikari waited patiently, making patterns on the table with her finger while Joey acted like he was five. Finally, he slid the test onto the table facedown and pushed it over in her direction, turning a little red. He was embarrassed to have some girl he didn't know looking at his failing grade. With practiced fingers, Hikari turned the paper over and scanned his grade; her expression didn't change a bit, and Joey was grateful, since he was sure she was passing with flying colors.

"Okay, so math isn't your strong suit," she said lightly. She leaned over to get a pencil and some paper out of her bag. "No big deal."

"Looks like your Friday night's shot," Joey muttered gloomily. He expected going over this test would take forever, and the gang would have to start watching the movie without him. He also felt a little bad knowing that Hikari had plans, too. But to his surprise, Hikari snorted and waved her hand dismissively.

"Nonsense. We'll be out of here in no time."

"Are you blind, woman?!" he asked, his eyes widening. "Did you think that was an 'A' or somethin'?"

Hikari laughed, much to Joey's surprise—and dismay; she seemed much calmer about this than he was. "No, I see that you failed; but it's no big deal. Nothing we can't fix. Come on. This one—why did you get it wrong?"

Joey eyed her for a moment before turning his head to look at the problem she was pointing at. He screwed up his face, confused. "I just…I don't get it. Numbers and letters together; it makes my head hurt. I mean, I thought letters were supposed to stay in _words_."

Hikari laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. But look—this one's not too hard. Just pretend the letters aren't there for a second." She covered them with her finger; Joey remained confused. "Okay, look at it this way," she said, keeping her finger over the letters. "You're in the middle of a duel, and you come up with the card Gift of the Mystical Elf. You play it and—"

"Wait, hold on—you play Duel Monsters?" Joey interrupted, surprised.

"Not very well, but yeah," Hikari replied patiently. "Now focus. You play it, and there are five monster cards on the field. How do you figure out how many Life Points you get?"

"I multiply three hundred by five," Joey replied, as if she were stupid. "And I get fifteen hundred Life Points."

"Exactly!" Hikari replied, pleased that he understood. She removed her finger off the variables. "Now, when you multiply _x_ by itself, you get what?"

"Eh…" Joey looked from the paper to her face beseechingly, confused.

"Okay. When you multiply two by itself, you get what?"

"Four."

"Good. What is it called when you times a number by itself?"

Joey stared blankly for several moments, hoping to read the answer on her expression. Hikari's face, however, remained unreadable, and he racked his brains, his eyebrows drawn together. He didn't understand quite what she meant. "Can I have a clue?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure. It starts with an 's' and it's also a shape."

Joe muttered "starts with an 's" and "a shape" to himself under his breath, thinking hard. Finally, when he thought he had it, his expression relaxed, and he looked up at her, wide-eyed. "A square?"

"Yes!" Hikari said, nodding. "So when you multiply _x_ by itself, you get…?"

"…You get _x_ squared?" Joey asked cautiously, and he beamed when Hikari nodded. "So…so that means I have…" He thought back to the metaphor Hikari had used earlier—the dueling scenario. "I have fifteen hundred _x_ squared?"

"Yes! Okay, let's try this one now. It's a little harder…"

Joey was surprised that it took only a little over an hour and a half to get through the whole test. But Hikari was good at coming up with hypothetical situations involving Duel Monsters to help him out, and he found he wasn't as confused as before. He was in a better mood about this whole tutoring thing when he packed his test away in his bag again. Hikari stood up with him, returning her pencil and paper to her bag as well and hitching it up over her shoulder. They headed for the door together.

"You need me to walk you home?" Joey offered as they reached the doors to the outside. He felt a little weird asking, but she was a girl—he would have felt like a moron if he hadn't at least offered.

She hook her head, pushing her glasses a little farther up her nose as they slid down. "No, I'm fine, thanks. My brother's waiting for me." She gestured to a boy who looked identical to her waiting at the bottom of the steps. "Thanks, though." She paused at the bottom of the steps, next to her brother, and Joey paused, too.

"No, thank _you_. Really. I thought I was gonna flunk the whole year," he admitted, laughing.

"Don't worry about it. I'll see you on Monday. And enjoy your movie," she added with a smile as she and her brother began to back away, in the direction of where Joey assumed their house was.

"See ya," he said, lifting four fingers off the strap of his bag to wave before turning and heading for the game shop.


	2. next day

so this is pretty much just a filler chapter, so i'm sorry if it's a little boring. but i'm starting on chapter three as soon as possible, so i'll try and have it up for you, and i'll try to make it a bit more exciting than this one. : D but don't forget to review -- only one person reviewed the first chaper. that's a little depressing.

disclaimer: once again, i own neither yu-gi-oh nor any of the characters in it.

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CHAPTER TWO: NEXT DAY**

The trek to the Kame Game Shop took Joey less time than he thought, although it could have been due to the bounce in his step. He felt more confident now, better than he had since he got that test back. It hadn't been as hard as he had thought; Hikari's metaphors and patience made things a lot easier to understand than his teacher's rambling and almost constant impatience. He guessed Yugi had been right; sometimes it just took someone else explaining things in their own way for it to really click. Maybe this whole tutoring thing wasn't such a bad idea, even if it did cut into his social life sometimes. But at least he wouldn't fail now.

He found Tea, Yugi, and Tristan camped out in front of the television already, watching the news and talking animatedly to each other. They looked up when Joey walked in, shrugging off his school jacket and dropping his bag on the floor.

"How'd it go?" Yugi asked lightly.

"It was all right," Joey replied with a nonchalant shrug, sitting himself down on the floor. "Y'know, for a tutoring thing."

"Really?" Tea asked, clearly interested. "Do you get all of it, then?"

"Ah, yeah," Joey said smugly, lacing his fingers behind his head and leaning back against the couch. "No sweat."

Tristan snorted, clearly disbelieving, and Yugi and Tea exchanged a look. Joey made a face, turning to glare up at Tristan, as if his lack of faith would cause him to forget everything he had just learned.

"Really? You know _everything_?" Tristan asked in reply to Joey's glare.

Joey glanced away, shrugging. "Well, ya know, not _everythin'_. But I got _most_ of it under my belt. More than I did."

"Well, that's progress, Joey!" Yugi said encouragingly.

"She's not a slave driver or anything?" Tristan asked, raising his eyebrows while Tea shot him a glare.

Momentarily, Joey had more lewd thoughts involving Hikari as a slave driver and wielding a whip, but he pushed those from his mind. He did have to see her again, after all. Besides, she was clearly not the slave driving type. She had been very patient with him, which was more than Joey could say for most people.

"Nah," he said, shaking his head, partially to shake away the thoughts he had been entertaining. "She's okay. For a nerd, anyway," he added with a smirk. "Said she played Duel Monsters."

"Really?" Yugi asked brightly, clearly interested; anything with games, and Yugi was there. "Is she any good?"

Joey shrugged. "I dunno. We didn't get into it. She says she's not good, but she's pretty good at remembering what all the cards do; that's how she helped me."

"With Duel Monsters?" Tristan asked, raising an eyebrow. Clearly, he was wondering just how much good Duel Monsters could do for a lousy math grade.

"Long story," Joey said impatiently, waving his hand. He was in no mood to talk about his perfectly ordinary tutoring session, especially not when they had a movie to watch. "You got that movie, Yug? I could go for a little R and R about now," he said with an exaggerated stretch.

"Sure thing, Joey." Yugi handed him the movie, and Joey leaned forward to put it in. They settled back to watch it, Joey on the floor with Yugi, Tristan, and Tea occupied the couch. None of them left until it was dark, and then Tristan, Tea, and Joey parted ways to go home.

"See you tomorrow, guys!" Tea—who had stubbornly refused to let either Joey or Tristan walk her home—called, waving. Tristan waved, too, and headed off in his own direction.

Joey slung his bag on one shoulder and his jacket over the other and started for home. It was cool outside, but he was too lazy to put his jacket on. No one was around, anyway, which made him look at his watch, wondering what time it was. His eyebrows shot up; it was almost midnight. He quickened his pace slightly, jogging up the steps to the apartment he shared with his dad. Joey didn't exactly have a curfew, and he wasn't a wimp, but even he knew that walking alone in the middle of the night was almost asking to get jumped; even he wouldn't be able to take on five or six guys at once.

He found the door unlocked—big surprise—and let himself in. His old man was passed out on the couch, snoring, remote in hand and a beer bottle or two on the floor. Sighing, Joey locked the door and went to pick up the bottles, carrying them into the kitchen.

"Thanks for waiting up, Pops," he muttered, glancing at his dad one more time. "God are ya deaf?" he added, grabbing the remote to turn down the volume of the television, which was almost at full blast.

His dad grunted and stirred a bit but otherwise didn't move, and Joey headed off to his room. He threw his jacket in the hamper; his pants quickly followed, and he pulled on a pair of pajama pants before climbing into bed, pulling the covers over himself and staring up at the ceiling. When he finally fell asleep, he had strange dreams involving Duel Monsters and Algebra, and numbers and variables swam confusingly in his head, muddling his brain.

When he woke up the next morning, it was to the smell of frying bacon wafting in from the kitchen area. He yawned sleepily, getting up out of bed and scratching the back of his head. He plodded into the kitchen, blinking groggily at his dad, who was frying bacon and seemed to be nursing a hangover, if the open bottle of Aspirin and the huge mug of coffee were anything to go by.

"Finally up?" he asked gruffly.

"Yeh," Joey grunted, slowly lowering himself down to sit at the table, which was pretty much a cheap card table they'd erected in the absence of a real place to eat.

"What time'd you get in?" his dad continued, tipping the bacon onto a plate.

"Around midnight," Joey mumbled, reaching for some bacon when it was set on the table. He crunched on it silently while his dad sat down opposite him, plunking his mug of coffee in front of him and rubbing his eyes tiredly.

He grunted. "Anything going on at school?"

Joey was tempted to tell him to cut the crap and stop pretending like he cared, but instead he said, "Got a tutor."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah." Joey didn't like his dad's tone; he was regretting even mentioning it. Why hadn't he just said "nothing" and left it at that?

"Huh," his dad said, taking a sip of coffee. "'Bout time."

Joey felt his hands ball into fists under the table, and he clenched his jaw, trying to refrain from saying something he would regret. If his dad had cared so much that he was failing, why the hell hadn't he tried to get a tutor for Joey himself? Joey didn't even want to begin to rationalize what his dad's motives were, if he even had them. He just knew he had to get out of that kitchen before words started flying. And when words started flying, fists were sure to come into it a little while later, and that was a place Joey did not want to go. Roughly, he shoved his chair back and stood up, grabbing one last piece of bacon before stalking off to his room.

"Well, no one asked you, Pops," he muttered darkly under his breath.

He changed quickly, into his standard t-shirt and jeans, and slung his green jacket over one shoulder; it was too warm to put it on now. He stopped in the bathroom to tame his hair and brush his teeth before he headed out, putting his shoes on by the door. His dad either didn't notice or didn't care that he was going out, because he didn't ask, and Joey didn't offer the information; let the old man figure it out for himself, he thought bitterly, shutting the door behind him and heading down the steps, his good mood from yesterday forgotten.

Why did his mother have to leave him behind? It was something he had often wondered before. Why couldn't he have gone with her and Serenity? It was pretty much like he was living by himself a lot of the time, unless there was the rare moment like Joey had encountered this morning, when his dad actually acted like he lived somewhere, like he had someone to take care of. On those days, Joey was forced to put up with the criticism, and he usually landed himself in an argument, sometimes even before his dad had set his lips to any kind of alcoholic beverage. But today, Joey had decided to be the bigger man and walk out; he just didn't want to deal with it right now.

It was getting close to twelve-thirty when Joey finally pushed open the door to the Kame Game Shop, where Yugi's grandfather was sitting behind the counter, tinkering away with something. Nobody else was in sight, and Joey strutted up and flashed a grin, leaning on the other side of the counter and trying to make it seem like he was in a better mood than he really was. Startled, Solomon Mutou looked up, evidently having not heard the bell tinkle above the shop door when Joey walked in.

"Oh, Joey! It's just you," the old man sighed, placing a hand over his heart.

"Hey, Gramps," Joey said with a wide grin. "Yugi home?"

"Actually, he said something about going to the book store; but he should be back soon, so you could wait for him upstairs."

"Thanks, Gramps!" Joey said, making a beeline for the stairs, but the old man was already deeply engrossed once more in whatever he had been doing before. "Knock-knock?" he asked, knocking on the door of Yugi's bedroom, just in case Grandpa Mutou had missed his grandson's entrance. The room was empty, however, and Joey settled himself on the floor, sitting pretzel-like, his elbow on his knee, chin in his hand, a bored expression on his face. He wished he had something to do; he would feel a little bad about snooping through Yugi's room, so he stayed put.

Thankfully, Yugi returned about five minutes after Joey had sat himself down, so he didn't have long to wait. The five minutes, however, seemed to take forever to Joey, who was the type of person who would spontaneously combust if they sat around for too long a period of time. He jumped up when Yugi entered, carrying a few books, which he set down on his desk.

"Grandpa didn't tell me you were here, Joey," the smaller boy said, pleasantly surprised.

"Eh, he was messin' around with something when I came in; he probably just forgot," the blond replied, shrugging it off. "Tristan and Tea not around yet?"

"No, not yet. Is something up, Joey?" he asked, peering worriedly up at his friend, who looked uncomfortable at the question.

"Wrong? Nah, nothing's wrong; why would ya say that?"

Yugi shrugged. "You just look a little upset about something is all. Maybe you're just tired; you guys did leave pretty late last night."

"That's gotta be it," Joey replied promptly, jumping on the excuse, even though midnight was hardly late for him.

Thankfully, Yugi let the subject drop and changed the subject. "You know," he began, setting about putting away the books he had bought, "your tutor works at the book store."

"Yeah?" Joey asked, only half interested. Books didn't hold any kind of power over him; he found them more than a little boring at best. Comic books were about as close as he got.

"I think her family owns it," Yugi mused thoughtfully, seemingly oblivious to Joey's lack of interest.

Joey grunted, hoping to deter further conversation about school. He picked something up off of Yugi's desk and examined it at random, not really looking at it. He was still a little miffed about his conversation with his dad, and talking about school and his tutor only made it worse, like grinding salt into an open wound. Fortunately, Yugi didn't continue, and Joey put down the figurine he had been looking at.

"Well…" Yugi began, casting his mind around for something to do. "We could always go get Tea and Tristan and get something to eat…"

"Yes!" Joey said, immediately grabbing Yugi's arm and making for the door. The two pieces of bacon he'd eaten were definitely not enough. "To Burger World!"


End file.
